FKJGP presses KHADC to scrap non-tribal trade licenses, end benami deals

SHILLONG, MAY 12: Citing rising unemployment and alleged benami operations, the Federation of Khasi-Jaintia and Garo People (FKJGP) Sohra Circle on Tuesday urged the Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council (KHADC) to cancel all trading licences held by non-tribals and stop issuing new ones for traditional trades and commercial transport.

In a memorandum to KHADC Chief Executive Member Winston Tony Lyngdoh, the FKJGP said local youth are now capable of running businesses that were earlier dominated by non-tribals.

“That your office cancel existing Trading Licences and stop issuing new Trading Licences to Non-Tribals for any traditional businesses such as limestone trade to Bangladesh, grocery shops, and others,” the memorandum stated.

The demand extends to trucks carrying limestone to Bangladesh and Sumos/taxis plying from Majai and Ichamati to Shillong.

“Because over time many local youth of this region are now able to take up this work,” the FKJGP said.

Invoking the Sixth Schedule and the Trading by Non-Tribal Regulation Act, 1959, the group argued that the law requires licences to be withdrawn once indigenous people can do the work.

“If indigenous people are able to carry out such work, trading licences already issued to non-tribals shall not be renewed and shall be cancelled, so that indigenous youth can take up these jobs and it helps address current unemployment,” it said.

The FKJGP also demanded a crackdown on benami trade, calling it illegal under the 1959 Act.

“We strongly urge your office to act on this matter,” the memorandum said.

It further alleged that a KHADC unit meant to verify trading licences of non-tribal-owned limestone trucks “is not functioning as intended.”

“We demand that henceforth all such vehicles must have documents like registration certificates in the name of Khasis,” it said, asking that trucks be barred from the limestone trade if owners are not Khasis.

Linking the issue to cultural control, the organisation claimed that foreign village names and non-indigenous headmen have enabled “outsider dominance” in the area.

“The organisation strongly urges your office to immediately change them to Khasi names and ensure that village headmen are indigenous,” the memorandum said. The FKJGP said KHADC’s intervention would aid regional progress. “We firmly believe that your serious attention to these matters will make our effort successful and bring hope for the overall progress of the region,” it said.